MassCore Overview

Normally, in systems that provide “proprietary” audio engines, the user is required to purchase DSP cards which allow the software to make lots of calculations very quickly. The reason that cards are used rather than allowing the task to be given to the computer’s internal CPU is that for a piece of software to access the power of the Intel CPU, it has to ask for the “permission” from the operating system. This method has a single issue with it that makes it almost unusable for professional, high track count productions.

…and that issue is latency.

The even bigger though, problem is that there is an issue with investing in DSP cards as well. As technology continues to develop at lightning speeds, the usable lifespan of computer-based hardware is becoming shorter and shorter. Connectors and chipsets change, software requirements in the DAW increase, plugins require more power… the list goes on and on. This means that even though users can spend the money to enjoy low latencies and incredible power, they are bound to the simple fact that give a few years’ time, they are going to have to make that investment in new hardware technology all over again.

Until MassCore came along.

MassCore embodies the power and low latencies of DSP cards, while staying completely away from requiring a user to make large incremental reinvestments in proprietary hardware technology. And it does this by turning the whole PC into an audio engine of its own.

MassCore technology “hides” one or more cores in a multiple CPU computer and then creates a “pipe” directly between the software and those hidden cores to essentially create an Intel-powered DSP based system. By doing this, the user can enjoy all the power that an Intel CPU core(s) holds (which is a HUGE amount) and does not add any additional latencies as it effectively removes the need for any requests to be made of the operating system with regards to real-time calculations.

In brief, MassCore is capable of the following in a single QuadCore system with no additional hardware required.

384 Inputs and 384 Outputs @1FS (44.1 / 48 kHz)

96 @ 4FS (176.4 / 192 kHz)

48 @ 8FS DXD (352.8 / 384 kHz)

48 @DSD256 (11.2 MHz 1bit)

1.33ms Latency from Live in to Live out

Check out the Pyramix and Ovation pages to see how MassCore is implemented.